628 peered through the leaves of the potted plant he was hiding behind. Mister Par was finally done with his instructions, and the youth were finally breaking out into small groups. He finally had an opportunity to act.

Mellow walked past the potted plant, completely unaware and unsuspecting of any danger lurking in the shadows. Or any friends hiding behind greenery. If he'd had even an inkling of suspicion, he likely wouldn't have been so scared when 628 lunged out from behind the foliage, slapped one hand over his mouth, wrapped three more around various limbs, and drug him back behind the pot.

Mellow squirmed in his assailant's grip, desperately trying to shake him off. Unfortunately he was completely unsuccessful.

628 released one of Mellow's legs, gently patting his back to reassure him. "It okay. Achi-baba. It okay."

Mellow relaxed slowly, recognition dawning on him. When he finally stopped struggling, 628 released him completely. Mellow sat up and tucked in his long limbs, trying to remain hidden behind their pot.

"Where did you come from?"

628 looked around as if a trap door or magic staircase would appear out of thin air. "Here."

"No, I mean, why did you grab me?"

628's ears perked up. "Sy missing! Braxton say grab Mellow, so 628 grabbed Mellow!"

"Wait, what? Sy's missing?" Mellow started rubbing his pincers together, his anxiety starting to spike. "What do you mean Sy's missing?"

628 dropped to all six limbs. "He not here. He no where. Come!"

"628!"

"Shhhh." 628 rounded on mellow and pressed a finger against his lips. "This secret mission. No get caught."

Mellow shook his head. "I can't just leave class, we'll get in trouble."

"Don't get caught." 628 answered simply. With that he scampered from behind the pot, up the wall, and onto the ceiling. Mellow swallowed hard, then climbed up after him.

Together the two of them crept across the ceiling. They crawled out of the room and started down the halls together. It wasn't easy going. Thankfully the door to the gymnasium was already open, allowing free passage out of the room and into the hall. Unfortunately, it was the only door that had been left open.

As per naval regulations, fire doors were installed at an interval of every 200 feet. During the ten minutes before a class ended and the ten minutes after a class began, the doors were programmed to remain open for ease of travel for the students. They were, however, otherwise closed in between classes. The doors that led to and from the stairs were also fire doors, and they were always closed.

The boys had agreed not to use their badges, to reduce the chances of someone being able to track that they were out of class. This, however, meant that one of them had to climb down the wall at every fire door and pull it open by the handle. The extra time at low levels meant extra risks.

"Careful," Mellow hissed from the ceiling.

628 nodded as he crept his way down the wall. He scampered across the floor and to the center of the door. Grabbing onto the handle at the short-statured height, he pulled it open. The smooth metal door slid to the side with ease, fading into the wall.

Mellow crawled across the ceiling and slipped neatly between the doorframe and the other door. He supposed they were lucky that he wasn't much wider, or he might have needed to have both sides opened. Most of his height, and width for that matter, came from his legs. So long as he was cautious about keeping his limbs tucked in, he was actually rather long and skinny in form. A good half of his body length was in his tail alone.

628 dashed through after him, already scaling the walls once again.

The two companions skittered down the hall together, traversing the ceiling with ease. At the next door, Mellow was the one to slink down the wall and pull the door open. He had a bit of an easier time at it than his companion, only needing to travel part way down the wall before his long limbs were enough to grab the door and pull it to the side.

The two passed through the hall again and turned a corner, heading for the stairwell.

A classroom door opened.

Both students froze completely, breaths held as Ensign Greenstone passed by underneath. The woman had a clipboard in hand and a pen tucked above her neat, tight bun. She strode down the hall at a purposeful pace, focused on her task at hand.

Mellow let out a long sight of relief. "That was close."

628 nodded. "Yes. I thought she see us."

Mellow managed a small, nervous chuckle. "Me too. Come on, let's go. There will be less people in the dormitory halls."

628 crawled down the walls and pulled the stairway door open. The two of them dashed through them, the smooth metal door shutting behind them just as Ensign Greenstone returned back around the corner. Thankfully, she either did not see them, or chose not to follow up, as the trip up the stairs and across the sky bridge was uneventful. Likewise, the two ran into no obstacles while navigating the labyrinth of dormitories.

"We baaaack!" 628 bounded through Jim's door the moment it slid open.

Braxton caught the badge 628 threw him out of the air before handing it off to Jim. "Great work, little buddy."

628 dropped down from the ceiling onto Jim's bed next to Braxton.

Mellow stepped in through the doorway and scuttled over to the corner. He drew his legs in as close as he could and worried his pincers together. "What is this about Sy being missing?"

Jim drew his legs away from Mellow. A shudder ran through his whole body. Everything in him was screaming at him to get this thing away. Away from him, away from his friends, and most of all, away from Sy.

It was dangerous.

But he might also be their only hope in finding Sy before time ran out.

"Sy went to go speak with Zephyr last night before bed. He never came back after, and he didn't let himself into my room." Jim paused, then sighed heavily. "Right. Sy's been sleeping in my room. He's had nightmares since our mission, and being with someone at night helps mitigate them. Anyway, Zephyr and Sy never showed up for breakfast either. Both are missing. We have Sy's pillow, so we can try and locate him through a color system, but it'll be inefficient and slower to do it alone. You're the only other person that might have one of Sy's belongings."

Mellow's face twisted up with confusion. To Jim, it looked like a sneer.

Aladdin quickly jumped in. "You've been working on that project with Sy, right? Matt thought that he might consider himself to have just enough ownership over the projects that the spell can work."

Mellow nodded slowly. "I might have some of the materials in my room. I don't remember who had them last. I can go look for them."

"Do you need a hand?" Hogarth all but leapt to his feet. He wasn't doing a very good job of masking his worry. "Varian and I can help you carry things or look for things."

Mellow nodded. "Alright. But you will have to be very careful. I don't believe humans can walk on the ceiling like we can."

Varian's face lit up. "Oh, but we can."